Elvis has Left the Building
by deriksmith
Summary: Zhane, the legendary Silver Ranger, was trained to be the most dangerous Ranger in the Universe. So he should be able to free a planet in 7 days without blowing his cover, right?
1. Dangerous when Wet, Naked

Legal; I don't own it.

Elvis has Left the Building by Derik Smith

THE MEGAWINGER

Zhane yawned, stretched and looked out at the streaking expanse of hyperspace. "DECSTER, ETA on the Rebel staging ground?"

The computer thought for a moment, its blue electric eye dimming, before answering. "Four days, thirteen hours, five minutes."

Zhane groaned. "Thanks for nothing." Four more days in hyperspace. He directed a good natured glare at the computer eye.

D.E.C.S.T.E.R. was the Megawinger's resident A.I. Sort of a permanent guest since the destruction of the Ganymede Base, Zhane had salvaged the male artificial intelligence that ran the manufacturing facility for his own use. Andros seemed to find his useful enough, it'd been his only companion while Zhane spent two years in cold storage, and Zhane could use someone to talk to on his long hauls. Of course, he noted sourly, Andros programmed D.E.C.A. with his mother's voice, which was more than a bit creepy.

"I'm picking up a distress call" D.E.C.S.T.E.R. announced suddenly.

"Let's hear it!"

Zhane leaned back as the staticky image of a young woman, human or close to it, appeared on a screen to his side.

She brushed the hair from her face and leaned in close to the camera, which was mounted at a strange angle, and spoke. "Am I...? Okay, good. Please, whoever hears this, we are Planet Krulos. As I speak, we are being overrun...static...forces of the Sorceress Etheria... We have NO DEFENSES. Please, I beg anyone who hears this message...." She looked up as an explosion sounded nearby, and the message stopped.

Zhane scowled, brushed his chin. He seriously needed to shave. "How old is that message?"

"Eight months."

Zhane's scowl deepened. The rebels were expecting him in a week. The last thing he needed now was to get involved in a prolonged side-trip. "How far away is it?"

"At Megawinger's maximal hyper rush speed... fourteen days." D.E.C.S.T.E.R. sounded almost reproachful.

Zhane on the other hand was crunching the numbers. The Winger had been designed for in-system combat and protecting evacuation convoys, it was a whale at hyper-rush. His Silver Cycle was a lot faster, and if he could just scout the situation, maybe come back later...

His mind made up, Zhane peeled himself out of his seat and started giving orders. "DECSTER, fit the Silver Cycle with the Galaxy Glider booster unit, I'm gonna check it out and catch up with you in six days."

"Yes Zhane."

Zhane scratched his oily hair as he left the cockpit. Maybe he'd get a chance to shower on... Krulos was it? Someday he was going to track down the bastard engineer who'd decided not to equip the Megawinger for long hauls and kick him so hard...

Zhane pulled into Krulos's star system sixteen hours later, bone weary. Galaxy Gliders were fast, with a decent range. That's what they were designed for, not long hauls like this. The booster unit was little more than two turbine-like hyperaccelerators and a bank of energy cells that clamped onto the back of his Galaxy glider, tripling its length. The advantage was in speed and range, but the close-mounted accelerators set up a vibration that was tough to take... especially for sixteen hours. Zhane was beat.

He pulled into high orbit over his destination, leaving the dead mass of the booster for later retrieval. Grateful to be free of the extra mass and eager to demorph after sixteen sweaty hours riding a Galaxy Glider, he took the Silver Cycle down...

KRULOS- THE NEXT MORNING

Zhane awoke to find a stream running through the forest near where he'd ditched the Silver Cycle the night before. With a whoop of joy, Zhane began stripping off his week-in-the-saddle grimy Megaship uniform and was soon shamelessly skinny dipping in the freezing water.

He sighed happily as he ran fingers through his greasy hair, reveling in the feeling of the cold water on his sweat-caked skin. Too much of his time on the Megawinger was spent in long-haul, he seriously needed to put in a shower and a sleeping unit... maybe he could tear out the UDS module, he hardly ever used it...

Zhane's reverie was interrupted by the sound of arguing voices from downstream. He'd been drifting for awhile now, so he crept up onto the bank, somewhat sheepishly aware of his lack of formal attire, and listened in.

"...told you not to make trouble!" a voice growled from the path on the other side off the brush.

The other person's response was too low to be heard. Zhane crept closer and carefully pushed aside a bush to see.

One was a local, human stock as he'd guessed. The thing accosting her was another matter altogether...

A Pineoctopus, Hydration Vampires that needed to steal moisture from other creatures to survive outside their native swamps. If one was here, it couldn't be good.

The Pineoctopus pushed her again. "Any last words?" The girl stared back at it defiantly.

Yup, definitely time to step in. Zhane reached for his Digimorpher... and encountered bare skin. Whoops! Forgot he'd left it back with his clothes. Well, live and learn. "Tighten up reality gangster!" he shouted, and jumped, followed by "Banzai!"

It really wasn't clear who was more surprised to see a naked young man burst out of the bushes, the girl or the monster, but it was the Pineoctopus who went down under his impact.

Zhane landed on all fours on top of the stunned monster. "Hi!" He jumped away before it could recover sufficient control of its writhing tentacles to grab him with a presser field and remove all the water from his body.

The girl was looking at him, frozen.

"Run!" he yelled. She looked familiar.

His words seemed to unlock her. She began to move uncertainly. "But you-"

Zhane had no time to respond as the Pineocotpus returned to its feet. "I'll get you for that!" It struck out with its yellow tentacles and missed but succeeded in driving Zhane back into the bushes, the branches clawing at his skin.

"Ow!" Zhane continued to back up, betting that the Pineoctopus would follow him.

It did, scrambling after the young human. It whipped at him with its spiked seedpod but failed to make contact. Its seeds could grow strong and healthy planted in such a wet and juicy young man! It reached out with a pincer maneuver the human couldn't possibly avoid, then suddenly- the human was gone!

Zhane ducked out of the way as the Pineoctopus barreled over the riverbank in search of its prey, and splashed into the river.

Zhane was on it in an instant, pushing the furious monster back into the water. Its yellow tentacles wrapped around him, sucker muscles contracting into an unbreakable grip, and it hissed in triumph.

"Guess again you big ugly moron!" Zhane crowed.

It took the monster a moment to see, and then it began to thrash around wildly, trying to get away, but Zhane wouldn't let it out of the water. "Drink it all, be a good boy now!"

The Pineoctopus' watery eyes dilated down to fine points as the massive fruit that formed its body began to swell and it absorbed more and more water from the river. Like a hungry animal come across a cache of food, it literally could not stop itself.

The girl- now he recognized her, the one from the video- appeared at the bank. "Get away!" She screamed.

Sound advice. Zhane gave the monster one last shove to make sure it wasn't getting up and sloughed towards the bank. "Getting!"

He almost made it.

The great water-storing fruit that made up the Pineoctopus' body exploded with a sickening sound and Zhane closed his eyes as he, the girl, and most of the immediate area were pelted with the sticky-sweet fruit that had made up the monster's innards. Silence, except for the gurgling of the river.

The girl was the first to speak. "Um, eew."

Zhane shook his head, a chunk of fruit flopping from it onto his shoulder. "Hey, you at least have clothes." He took a bite out of it, the pulpy mass squirting down his chin and chest. "Tasty though."

Her name, he would learn, was Taya. She'd been caught out after curfew the night the Sorceress's tithe boat had been scuttled and they'd just ASSUMED she did it. And wasn't that just totally unfair? Because it was her brother who actually sank the silly thing. She had just been the lookout, and wouldn't even have gotten caught if her shirt hadn't...

All this, without a breath, it was amazing. As she spoke and Zhane swatted at the flies that seemed to find all his bare flesh irresistible, Taya led them to her Guerilla camp in a clearing. Hello, no I'm fine! This is the nice naked man who saved me! He was terribly brave. What? Well, yes, I suppose he could use some clothes... say, what's your name anyway?

Zhane stared at her for a long moment. "Elvis. Elvis Presley." he answered finally.

And just like that, Zhane was a rebel. Again.

Rebellion on Krulos entailed blowing up your own stuff before the Sorceress Etheria could claim it as her own. Not a very efficient system, he resolved to improve it at the earliest opportunity.

[to be continued...]


	2. The King is Back

Continued from Part 1

He snuck back to the Silver Cycle that night to retrieve his Digimorpher and a couple other useful tools, and placed a call to D.E.C.S.T.E.R.

"Doesn't it bother you in the least that you just HAPPENED to run into the young lady who made the distress transmission? Krulos has a population of two billion. The odds against that are... astronomical."

"Not really, it's a hero thing. You get used to it." Zhane scratched a zit on the back of his neck, smiling despite himself at how good it felt to be properly clean. "Hey DECSTER, you think it'd be possible to pull the UDS and put in a shower instead? And maybe a hammock?"

D.E.C.S.T.E.R.'s response was dry. "Perhaps Zhane, I'd rather dislike to be without the UDS when we needed to dock. Or land. Or enter a stable orbit. I suppose you COULD just teleport everywhere..."

Zhane rolled his eyes. "Look into it anyway. So I hooked up with a local guerilla group, strictly amateur hour. I stand to have a bead on the situation in a few days."

"The Pineoctopus doesn't worry you?"

"Posers. They're good for terrorizing a populace, nothing more."

"Perhaps. This may be of interest to you. I ran a search on this Sorceress Etheria your Taya mentioned. The only hit I got was an old infoblurb from Triforia a few years ago. A priestess of Lokar called Etheria working with Aradon briefly."

"Interesting. Give Trey any trouble?"

"Doesn't say. Lord Trey is currently offworld, and I cannot contact him for more information."

"Keep trying, I'll call you tomorrow." He closed his Digimorpher and pocketed it.

"Elvis? That you?" a voice called from behind him.

Zhane turned, trying to act casual. It was Taya. He smiled disarmingly and moved a few steps to the left. The tactic worked, she stepped towards him and narrowly missed tripping over his camouflaged Silver Cycle. "Hey Taya."

Taya rubbed her yes. "Whatchu doing up?"

"I'm, uh, 'm all shook up, couldn't sleep." Zhane drawled. Unbidden, his lip twitched. "You?"

"I was just-"

Any further conversation was cut off by a scream from the camp.

-

Zhane and Taya returned to see the Kurlos Guerillas being chained in rows by a goat-monster he didn't recognize, and some helpers he did.

"Putties." Zhane whispered. There was no mistaking that's what they were, their craggy half-formed faces and eerily jointless movements gave them away. But what kind? Zhane had fought grey and white clay Putties in the past- the golems were common enough soldiers throughout the Universe, even one crumbling dry slate-blue Wraith Putty on the moons of Manta that nearly took his head off before he discovered it was vulnerable to psychic attacks, but he didn't recognize this variety. A light tan clay to be sure, bad material for holding a spell... but in places their bodies seemed to glitter in the moonlight. He tried to place this any of the dozens of variations on the Putty form he knew- and failed. Still, there were only four of them... "Wait here," he whispered.

Taya tries to stop him. "Elvis-!" but he was already gone, moving with the stealth a fallen Ninjetti master had taught him long ago.

"Tighten up reality gangster," he whispered to himself, feeling the first tingle of power at his fingertips. Four, and a monster. Not too bad. He didn't want to morph if he could help it, the bounties Dark Specter had on all their heads were too great, he wanted to keep his little side trip here quiet.

"Stigma through idiot hearing!" Zhane struck from cover, sending the first of the putties staggering, and followed up with an uppercut to the next closest. It took a few steps back, startled, and sang a few warbling notes to him.

Sang? Oh no

There was a type of Putty, a R-type, Resonance Putty that sang when struck. The memory flashed at him now as he dodged the nearest's fist. The R-Putty missed, plowing through a tree-trunk instead, splintering it like a buzzsaw. R-Putties were heavily devolved clay sprinkled generously with quartzite phenocrysts- which resonated when struck, the 'singing.' They stored the energy of any blow directed towards them as internal vibration. Resonance Putties were aptly nicknamed Razor Putties, since once you hit them, their imperceptibly vibrating crystals shredded anything they touched, it was like trying to hit razorblades. Zhane dodged again as the first R-Putty he'd hit came towards him.

Then the second was on top of him again. Zhane had no choice, he kicked it, a glancing blow to put it off balance that shredded the soles of his new Guerilla-provided boots through to his feet. "Aarugh! Keep frustration clear." But it bought him the time he needed as he flopped onto his back in an entirely exposed position, smiling. "Patience open head." The R-Putty lunged for him. Unfortunately, its companion had the same idea.

Zhane closed his eyes as they touched. For a moment there was just stunned silence as their mutual song stopped, then their clay sloughed uselessly into limp piles around him, their body strata turning liquid under the dissonant vibrations the accidental contact brought to their bodies. A sloppy disgusting mess, sprinkled here and there with chunks of flawed yellow quartzite, but he was alive, even after underestimating the opposition.

A shadow stepped above him and Zhane looked up. At least- he was alive for the moment.

The large grey goat monster pulled him to his feet- and then into the air so they were face to face. Zhane could smell his breath. He waggled his fingers sheepishly. "Uh, hi! Remember the 80's?"

The goat grunted gruffly, looked at the mess that remained of the two R-Putties, then back at Zhane. It sighed. "Darnit, Etheria is gonna be so pissed. You know how much work those things are?"

Zhane didn't, but filed the information for later use. "Yeah, well... sorry?"

The goat monster put him down, sighed again. "You realize I'm going to have to destroy you now, right?" It sounded depressed.

"You sound less than thrilled." Zhane observed.

The goat shrugged. "I'm a pacifist, what can I say? I need therapy maybe."

Zhane nodded understandably. "Maybe you'd be happier in another line of work."

The goat shrugged again. "Maybe, and yet- I love my work. I'm quite conflicted." He smiled.

When he struck, the goat-monster was fast, but Zhane was faster, the tapped energy of his half-completed chant still in the air, boosting his muscles beyond the human limit, speeding him by the fraction of a second he needed to avoid the fist the size of a human torso that crashed through where he'd been standing. "Getting away with it lead!" he shouted.

The goat spun around, its ornate horizontally protruding horns almost gutting Zhane as he rolled away. Zhane responded with a kick to the jaw, and continued, "Some distant memory drove."

His senses expanded as the aura of the Ninjetti Battle Koan formed around him. He felt the goat-monster's muscles tensing under its fur in anticipation of a movement; it was child's play to avoid it. He dodged within the goat's reach and whispered in its ear. "Get the message?"

With a roar, the goat sought to crush him, but he wasn't there. Moving low on the ground like an animal Zhane scrambled up the trunk of the nearest tree, his fingers gripping impossibly in the bark. "Indiscipline all remains!" he shouted.

Zhane closed his eyes, seeing the goat with senses other than sight. The music of the Ninjetti Battle Koan roared in his ears and he tried to focus. The Battle Koans were a hidden form for a reason; few who learned them could resist their lure for long. He could hear it now, the whisper of evolution in his ears, tempting to let go of his focus and let the energies of the spell he was weaving shape his flesh like wax, freely transforming from man to animal, any animal, any form...

The goat struck the tree Zhane was in, but Zhane flew, momentarily calling upon the shadow of the avian the Koan lent him, swooping around in an impossible arc, knocking into both of the remaining R-Putties as he came. He bared his teeth in a feral gesture and landed with the grace of reverse-articulated knees. No, draw himself back to the NOW-

"Wish double editorials cover!" he hissed, back in control. The R-Putties came at him, singing, and he blocked their blows, effortlessly, vibrating his hands to match their bodies. He sang, two chords at once, in counterpoint to their harmonies, and reached out with his mind and undid the spells that held them together. They tumbled, dead heaps of clay, at his feet.

The goat looked at him, eyes red, howling, though Zhane could no longer hear. The Battle Koan filled him now. In this moment- when he could be all things- he chose himself, and spoke the final, secret line. A line the goat-monster heard, then promptly forgot. And Zhane's form solidified as his own, shining in shadows, and he struck.

A few seconds, no longer, but within the arc of the completed Ninjetti Battle Koan, that was enough. Zhane was himself at his maximal potential, his hands like razors, he moved through air like molasses, thinking slow thoughts. The air crackled behind his fingertips, his movement leaving trails of vacuum, fingers entering flesh in clean wounds that were blown open by the crashing air behind them. Mind and body struck as one, telekinetic blows broke bones and warped spacetime-

And Zhane fell out of the Koan, stumbling, nose bleeding, watching in horror as space rippled in the place where he'd been. His flesh sagged and he was merely human again, his eyes nose and ears were bleeding.

Of the goat monster, there was nothing. No rag nor bone nor hunk of hair remained. He had simply been... excised.

Zhane fell to his knees, shaking, and all was in silence.

-

"...s he alright?"

"...no change in..."

Zhane was aware of hands. Hands, touching him...

Taya cried out as Elvis suddenly sat bolt upright and grabbed her hand. His eyes were wide, confused. She smiled reassuringly and pulled her hand away. "Rise and shine hero."

Zhane wavered, slumped. "Who... Taya? How long have I been...?"

"Unconscious? All night. Big brother here tried to wake you, but I convinced him to let you sleep in a bit after doing... whatever you did."

Zhane was suddenly aware of an imposingly large figure standing protectively behind Taya, and the shine of sunlight through tentflaps. "Me? Aw, that t'weren't nuthing special... you'd have done the same in my place... just luck..." he was babbling. His foot ached where the R-Putty had shredded it, but he'd been bandaged.

Taya looked up at her big brother and cocked her head at him, the universal signal for 'git.' He looked for a moment like he might press the issue, but relented, leaving the tent with a nonverbal warning glance at Zhane. Don't touch her.

Were all big brothers that protective? Well, okay, but Andros wasn't a normal case. Zhane held his head, he had a massive headache and he felt like shit. "Thanks."

Taya sat down on the end of Zhane's cot, smiling and clearly intending to continue the conversation. "So, now that we're alone, you care to tell me just what it was you did to Scrapegoat last night?"

Zhane held his head, sighed. "Not if I could possibly avoid it." He needed a medical scan, that was a phenomenally stupid stunt to pull. He patted his pocket to see if his Amscanner was still there, nothing. Searching further, his Digimorpher was also gone. He looked up, "hey Taya, have you seen-"

Taya held up a black and silver stylized device shaped like a cellphone. "This?"

"...my, uh..." did they have cell phones on Krulos? "Thing?" he finished lamely.

Taya smiled. "I saw you using it last night. Now you tell ME what it was you did to Scrapegoat, and I let YOU call your friend and tell him you're alright. Deal 'Elvis?'"

Zhane scowled, but he really had no choice. Well, he could probably take it from her, but he felt like his head was going to fall off if he tried to get up, and her brother would kill him if he laid a hand on her. "Deal, hand it over first."

She did do, and Zhane pocketed it.

"What about the other thing?"

Taya held up the Amscanner, a skeptical look on her face. "After."

Zhane sighed. "It's called-" he groaned as he leaned forward to a more comfortable sitting position, "a Ninjetti Battle Koan. It's a Working, a, uh, spell sorta, in the form of a meditative koan."

"What's it do?"

"That..." he drawled, "depends on how far you get into it. It can make you faster, stronger, more aware on many levels. Towards the end it does... other stuff."

"Like the stuff you did last night. You flew."

"I glided." He buried his face in his hands. He didn't want to have this conversation. "And it was a remarkably silly, stupid thing to do."

"It saved your life."

There was water! Zhane took a long drink from the glass next to the table and lay back down. "No, it didn't... it almost ended it. A Battle Koan is EXTREMELY powerful on the higher levels. I shouldn't have edged it up that high. It's... the upper levels let you change... things, yourself. It's very dangerous. If you lose focus... you're not the same person after the spell you were before."

She cocked her head. "Then why go that far?"

Zhane took deep, cleansing breaths. "It's not that simple. You get caught up in it. The working... talks to you. Urges you on. It's..." he grimaced, "really, I shouldn't use it at all. It was written for beings that exist on a higher level of being. When a human works it, it's not... safe."

She nodded. "Then why use it at all?"

"Because its controllable in the first few lines, and the power it gives is..." he trailed off, not wanting to finish. The power was what, seductive? She was right, he shouldn't be using the Koan at all if he could avoid it, but lately... he'd been running it at its lower levels every time he went into battle. He shivered, suddenly cold. Zordon wouldn't have approved, of his use of the Koan, of the fact he'd even learned it. But with Zordon gone, he'd been using it more frequently. 'Getting away with it.' That was one of the Koan's lines. He spoke quietly. "The master that taught be the technique... it was a forbidden form, I wanted to learn it... he was fallen Ninjetti, he fought for evil."

Taya looked at him impassively.

Zhane shrugged. What else could he say. That without the final verse, the one only a master could teach, it was more wild still? That'd go over well... "I wanted knowledge. The form itself isn't evil, inherently... I don't think. But it's... temptation. It requires supreme control, or it can destroy you."

She nodded. "Cutting butter with a hammer, my father called it, trying to use power without corruption. It's possible, but..." her voice was, at least, nonjudgmental. "Who are you?"

Zhane smiled weakly. "I heard your message."

-

"What does the Amscanner say?" D.E.C.S.T.E.R. pressed through the hyperlink in the Digimorpher.

"Hold on... it's collating..." Zhane squinted at the display. ".00032 genetic drift." He grinned triumphantly.

"Oh, lovely. You're happy because that stupid drinking song only scrambled your DNA a little instead of a lot." snapped D.E.C.S.T.E.R. "I want you to stop using it."

"That a tactical decision?"

"It's a medical order," the computer said, "I am programmed as a physician you know, and it's not healthy. You don't need it either, you're quite skilled enough without some ancient hoodoo stuck in your head. If you insist on rattling off poetry while going into battle, I'd suggest Beowulf, it even contains some unmorphed combat techniques."

"I'll take it under advisement." Zhane changed the subject. "News on Trey?"

"Aradon's communications interdictors are buried throughout UAE subspace. I'm sorry, there's been no contact, it may be weeks. And you, will you be weeks? I remind you the rebels are expecting me to arrive with you onboard, Kinwon will not be amused."

"Just a few more days. We're heading into the capital. Apparently Taya's brother's convinced I'm here to fulfill some kind of prophecy..."

"Oh lord, here it comes..."

Zhane grinned, "...about the singing warrior king who leads his people to freedom, plucked from the raging river..."

"It was a bloody stream!"

"...naked as if from divine birth, striking the rallying blow for the people..."

D.E.C.S.T.E.R. groaned. "You'll be the death of me Zhane, I know it."

Zhane shrugged. "Taya knows I'm not, that I just answered her message... though I'm not sure what she thinks of the whole situation." He grinned into the Digimorpher. "Relax DECSTER, it's a cakewalk! We go in, we blow up a few buildings, we go out! What could go wrong?"

-

"HEAR YE, HEAR YE! KNOW YE ASSEMBLED CITIZENS THAT YOU ARE CALLED TO BEAR WITNESS IN THE EXECUTION OF THE CRIMINAL ELVIS PRESLEY ON THE VERY SERIOUS CHARGE OF TERRORISM!"

The crowd roared.

Zhane sighed. 'What could go wrong?' He'd just HAD to say it, hasn't he?

to be continued...


	3. The Art of Getting Things Done

Continued from Part 2

His Digimorpher chirped. He answered it.

"Hi Boss, any what's new?"

Zhane was six hundred meters below sea level in a stone dungeon in Krulos's capital, waiting an order that he be executed at dawn for high crimes against the state.

"Nothing much. You?"

"Well you'll be pleased to know I got through to Lord Trey! He's confirmed that this Sorceress Etheria is indeed the priestess of Lokar we seek, but he assures me that she should present no problems to you as long as you don't allow her to draw you out into a position where her monster army has numerical superiority."

Zhane looked out the bars in amusement. Fifteen monsters of various shapes and sizes stared back at him. Forty more were stationed throughout the building. "Good to know, I'll keep it in mind." He snapped the cell phone shut.

The Digimorpher peeped again, and with a sigh, Zhane answered it. "Yes?"

"Just one more thing boss. The telemetry I'm getting off the Digimorpher indicates the entire city is generating an inhibitor field. You won't be able to morph if you need to, so be careful eh?"

Zhane buried his head in his hands.

-

It was Taya's fault. She really WAS a lousy lookout. Only this time, she wasn't the one to get caught.

-

Zhane was marched in front of the crowd between a Terror Toad and a Fearog, bound at the wrist. The crowd roared its approval.

The execution platform had been set up in the city square. Apparently fans of the 'Gallagher' style of corporal punishment, it consisted of a platform he would be chained to, with a five ton weight suspended above. The first few rows of the crowd were carrying spattershields.

The herald called the crowd to order and announced a list of charges, destruction of the Tithing Records building, destruction of the Royal Sculpting Academy, the destruction of the Institute for Phrenological Studies...

Zhane ignored this and instead concentrated on studying his surroundings. Lessee, raging crowd, no escape route, monsters out the wazoo. Right, screwed. He went back to listening to the charges for a moment. Who was that sitting behind the judge in the high seat with a white monster guarding her? Could it be? Why, golly it was! That could be no less than the Sorceress Etheria herself! Zhane squinted, trying to make out more than a vague hint of robes and a dark complexion. There was some kind of tattooing around her eyes... He stilled his mind and concentrated, looking not with his eyes but his in-sight. The tattoos snapped into focus in his mind, he was seeing them as they were, not as his poor organic eyes perceived them. Let's see, it was writing, ancient Nathadian actually... he recognized 'Lokar' and 'tears'. Languages were not his long suite. The herald was coming to a finish, time to make a scene!

Zhane shoved the two monsters holding him aside and stepped forward, waiting until he had the crowd's attention. He looked up at Etheria, okay, gotta keep a straight face now... Zhane raised his chained hands to the sky and bellowed. "Etheria! Let mah people go!" He winced inwardly as his upper lip twitched again, hoping it didn't ruin the effect.

The distant figure stared down at him dimly. After a long moment, she reached next to her chair and pulled out something- a megaphone. Her voice was thin and reedy. "Oh, hey, when you put it that way... sure! I hereby set your people free!" She settled back in her chair as the crowd laughed.

Zhane scowled. Great, a heckler. "This is your last chance!" he warned her.

The megaphone clicked on again. "I'm trembling. Squish him."

The crows began to chant, "SQUISH, SQUISH, SQUISH!" The monsters led Zhane onto the platform, the weight creaked ominously above him.

Ok, this wasn't funny anymore. Zhane kicked out at the Fearog's knee and sent it stumbling. The Terror Toad croaked and struck with its tongue, grabbing Zhane around the arm. Zhane backpedaled, falling off the end of the squishing platform. The toad advanced on him, leering, as it slowly wound him in on his tongue.

Zhane smiled grimly, reached out with his mind, and threw the switch on the weight. With a creak, the weight came down.

Squish. The tongue wrapped around his arm went limp.

The crowd was screaming in confusion and approval, Zhane's actions shocking them out of their complacent stupor. That was all fine and good, but now there were more putties and monsters headed for the stage, and Zhane was running out of time.

Grabbing a handful of dirt, Zhane bounded towards the judge's high seat. A shark-ninja blocked his way, but Zhane brought his wrist-cuffs up the block the ninja's half-axe. The binders clanged, and broke, tumbling free from his wrists.

"Thanks!" Zhane threw dirt in the ninja's eyes and darted beyond him. The crowd was energized now as he made him way towards Etheria. A putty got in his way, but he sent it back with a kick, its reverberation tearing through the ranks behind it. He vaulted off the shoulder of a the Metal Mangler acting as bench guard, and suddenly, he was standing on the judge's podium-

The judge roared, picked up his 'gavel', a massive hand-over-hand weapon, and Zhane recognized Hammeron the Pirate executioner with a chill. He knew better than to try and block that warhammer, he flipped over its arc instead, dancing precariously on the front of the podium. He was swinging in wide horizontal arcs, all he needed to do was-

Zhane deliberately paused, appearing to lose his balance.

Hammeron cried triumph and swung a killing overhand blow- but the human wasn't there! Unimpeded, his blow traveled without slowing through the front of the podium, and continued through the floor. Hammeron let out a yelp as the floor went out from under him and he fell into the crowd.

Zhane was already moving on to Etheria. He recognized the monster guarding her now, it was an Eye-Guy. Zhane threw the last of the dirt in his hand, and kicked it off the podium as it flinched leaving- for the moment at least- just him and Etheria.

Not wasting time on ceremony, he grabbed her by the throat and hauled her to her feet and bellowed, "Recant and be saved!"

Etheria was much less impressive in person, and Zhane was suddenly conscious of the fact that he was choking an old woman, but he didn't let up his grip- couldn't. The monsters were regrouping below him as he spoke. "Now! Recant Lokar! Look at me!"

Etheria brought her face up, and smiled, but her sunken eyes did not open. Almost gently she brought her hand up to brush his cheek and move over his face. "I am." And it was with a sickening jolt that he, close up, was finally able to read the fullness of the tattoos on her eyes.

In scrolling ornate Nathadian script, the tattoo encircling her eyes read; FOR LOVE OF LOKAR, AND MYSELF, NO TEARS SHALL I SHED.

Her eyes... her Eye-Guy bodyguard... Etheria was blind. She'd blinded herself.

And he remembered the Lokar compact. The only way to break a vow of service to Lokar was with tears... of compassion. And Etheria could never shed those tears.

So startled was he by this that he relaxed his grip on her throat enough that it caught him off guard when she suddenly squirmed, eel-like, and slipped from his grip, only for her knee to snap forward a second later and connect, heart-stoppingly, into his crotch.

Zhane crumpled in a tight ball, trying not to cry. Heroes don't cry, he wasn't going to... damn.

It was a mercy when Etheria's foot connected with his head.

-

He couldn't have been out more than a minute when he was hauled to his feet. A Terror Blossom was dropping stun spore into the now rioting crowd, and Etheria was sitting back in her throne, a look of fascination on her face as the Eye-Guy studied Zhane- seeing him through the monster's eyes he supposed.

Zhane struggled for a moment before realizing the arms that held him were clay. Best not to strike a R-Putty while it held you. He glared at Etheria (glare at her, or the monster who was her eyes? No, at her,) and swung his head towards the crowd. "You hear that Etheria? That's the free people of Krulos! You may have their cities, but you'll never take their spirit! One day, they will overthrow you!"

Damn, Etheria didn't look impressed. Instead she stood, looking considerably less frail than she'd appeared as he choked her, but every bit as old. She took a dirk from her belt and swung it in a short circle, the blade extending into a full sword. She placed this at his throat. Her next words were so quiet, he had to strain to hear them.

"Recant, and be saved."

Zhane spat. His shot went wide, spattering on the face of the R-Putty next to her.

"Pity." She said flatly, and pulled back the blade. "Goodbye Elvis."

Zhane cursed at her in ancient Nathadian.

She paused, puzzled. "...nothing but a hound dog? What is that supposed to-"

Zhane screamed, and threw himself forward with all his weight, taking the two R-Putties holding him with. They hit the platform almost simultaneously, stressing the ALMOST. He felt his back and left arm being torn open by their grip before they neutralized. He kicked the Putty next to Etheria, sending it stumbling back into her, singing.

With a scowl, she killed the spell animating it and it fell to her feet, Zhane's spit still trickling down its dead clay face. "Do you know how long it takes me to sculpt those?"

Zhane didn't care. He grabbed a handful of the dead putty and squeezed, the brown clay squishing through his spit-slicked fingers. He shook his fist in front of her, waving the wad of clay. "Is that all you consider these people? Raw material? A thing, to be made or unmade?" He continued to work the clay in his hand, all he needed was a few more seconds... He trimmed the excess clay until he had a mass with five limbs, roughly a human, soaked in his own spit. "This is a person! This is Me!" he breathed on it as he said so. The words weren't perfect, they'd have to do.

Etheria cocked her head, she was seeing the figure through her bodyguard's eyes. "No, I- STOP HIM!" she screamed, finally realizing what he was trying to do.

Oh well, he could only have hoped for a few more seconds anyway. Grabbing a handful of his own hair, he PULLED, yanking a few strands free and pressing them back into the figurine. "Gotta go!" He flipped backwards off the Judge's podium, beyond the circle of monsters guarding it.

Two, three seconds before they could turn and swarm him. His hands were already in motion, scrawling five rough lines in the dirt representing this stage and the podium, and next to it a square...

"Clay of the Earth, essence of my flesh! And I-" Soccadillo was a half-second from him. He moved the figure from the podium to the square.

And vanished.

-

THE CITY SQUARE

"...am gone!"

Zhane reappeared in a swirl of dust in the City Square.

He immediately doubled over, retching his guts out, there was blood in the vomit, and the sympathetic figurine he'd used to move himself here squeezed out through his spasming fingers.

Zhane coughed, tasting his last meal twice. "K- knew tha- that was a bad clay to hold a spell..." he chattered as his knees fell out from under him.

The crowd in the square was thin, most of the city must have been pressed into service as his audience, they gave him a wide berth. He struggled to his feet, and fell, blurry vision making out a figure running towards him.

"..lvis! Elvis!" the figure shouted.

It was Taya.

She helped him to his feet, looking horrified. His clothes were ripped open to the muscle on his right arm and across his back, and he was bleeding from his ears and nose. "Omigod, are you alright? I - how did you know I'd be here? Are you... will you be okay?"

Zhane spat blood, and laughed, leaning on her heavily. "I didn't. It's a hero thing." He reached up to wipe his face, saw the mess of spit and smashed clay in his hand and shook his head instead. "You know, you really ARE a bad lookout."

-

THAT NIGHT

"That trick you did with the putty. Can you do it again?" Taya's brother asked.

Zhane cracked a smile through split lips and looked at him. "You mean, can I teach you to do it? Brave resistance fighters popping in and out at will, striking and disappearing..."

He shrugged. "Well, can you?"

"Sure, if you want your brave resistance fighter to show up puking his guts out and unable to walk. No problem. Quite an image for the recruiting posters..."

"Sometimes, all a man has to do is get there," he said grimly.

Zhane stared at him, and shook his head. "You're not ready for kamikaze runs yet."

Taya's brother growled. "Who are you to judge what we are ready for?" he was angry, ready to fight, and the condition he was in Zhane had no hope on winning.

Screw chivalry. Zhane swatted out carelessly and pushed against the other man's chest, simultaneously pulling back on his ankles mentally. He fell backwards with a yelp. "Shut up." Zhane said tiredly.

He got to his feet, his eyes flashing dangerously. "You-"

"Asit!" Taya shouted, her tone unmistakably commanding. "You let him go."

Zhane smiled and nodded. "Yeah Asit. You heard her, let me go."

With a curse, Taya's brother stormed out of the tent. Nominally in command of their small resistance cell- suddenly the most wanted on the planet, it was clear he wasn't used to having to answer to anyone else- even Taya, and he disapproved of his little sister's sudden willfulness.

Taya turned to Zhane. "And you... you really are a colossal ass, you know that?"

Zhane nodded. "Yup." He levered himself out of bed and grabbed her arm. "C'mon."

-

The camp had grown. Fully a hundred new would-be rebels had joined Asit following the showing at Zhane's execution. Hopeless idealists all.

Zhane waved back at the rebels who hailed 'Elvis' on his emergence from the tent. He took Taya out a ways from the camp, still keeping partially in sight so her brother wouldn't get the right idea. "I want to show you something."

"Oh, I've heard that one before."

He grinned. "Which way's the capital, nevermind." He turned her to face the direction of the capital city and gently put his fingers on her temples. "I want you to clear your mind."

"Done."

Somehow, he believed that.

"Okay, now I want you to totally relax, and open your eyes without looking at anything."

Taya made a face. "That's not-"

"Not without seeing, without looking. Looking requires forethought. Open your eyes, and just let the image come to you, don't seek it out."

"O-okay, I think." She waited a moment, and he could feel her eyes open, and she blinked repeatedly.

"What did you see?"

"Just- for a moment... like... lines? In the sky?"

Zhane nodded. "They're force lines. Like... magnetic fields, or regions of dislocation on an earthquake fault, or the progress of a river as it cuts through a mountain. They're forces at work on this planet. You're so used to NOT seeing them, when you look at the world consciously, you can't. They're below your perception. The only way to see them-"

"Is to not look for them, right? Like when you see something out of the corner of your eye." She paused, digesting this. "But why are they all running through the capital?"

Zhane put his hands back on her temples and prompted her to relax and try again. "Etheria moved them, so she could tap their power. Right after she arrived, there were a few weeks of weather and EM problems, right?"

"Yeah."

"This is what caused it. Radically rerouting a planet's paraphysical structure isn't very good for it... see the yellow one in the upper left...?"

"Yes, it's moving."

"I know. I just unhitched it."

Taya turned and looked at him, startled. "You what?"

He nodded absently. "No security on this. Nobody on Krulos would know how to pull apart a binding spell, so she doesn't put a ward on it. Oh, she probably meant to go back and do it eventually... but one things leads to another and you never get around to it... there, see the bluish-white one?"

Taya was smiling. "Gods... Etheria is gonna be SO pissed at you..."

He grinned. "You wanna do one? It takes a lot of focus, but I can help..."

It took five frustrating hours as Zhane picked apart Etheria's nexus of power around the Capital, but she was finally able to watch without watching as a single pinkish line drifted free across the sky and say, "I did that."

-

They were awakened the next day by a pig in a Centurion's helmet outside of camp bearing a message.

"Etheria wants to speak with Presley."

to be continued...


End file.
